Topic: Using green chilies for that special flavour

[SnS]

Hi Derek

If you want to produce extra oil for reclaim then add extra oil into the base recipe.

The more you put in, the more will (should) separate at the end of the cooking time.

If you cannot get the oil to separate, just add more water to thin the base down.

This should not affect the amount of oil 'retained' in the actual base, so I wouldn't worry too much about the health side.

Regards
SnS

[Secret Santa]

I'm glad someone tried it
Sorry you're disappointed
Is the oil hot?

Hi haldi

Well I'm not disappointed as such. I've been cooking chillis with my curries in various ways for years so I knew that adding chillis at any stage of the cooking wasn't going to add anything in terms of getting the BIR taste. Not too sure what you mean by 'is the oil hot?'. Tonight for instance I made a jalfrezi and I added three finely chopped green chillis at the same time that I fried the garlic/ginger paste, which I always do first.

On an unrelated note, but relevant to your recent oil research, tonight I used some oil that was nearly near its throw away point. I had cooked chicken strips and samosas in it and most recently a fairly big serving of chicken wings. The curry was really quite good and it had a superb extra chickeny flavour in the sauce, something I used to notice in BIR curries of old but don't now. I think this demonstrates just how much extra flavour can be carried through to the curry from ingredients previously cooked in the frying oil.

I noticed many many years ago that the oil I had cooked onion bhajis in definitely had a BIR curry like aroma to it but it never occured to me to cook with it. I think the trick is to avoid adding this spiced oil to your base sauce and just use it straight in to the final curry preparation.

[JerryM]

thought i would add a pic of these wonderful little gems.

i'm with Secret Santa on the BIR taste and the green chilli.

however this post has prompted me that i'm not using them enough as i do like the extra taste they bring (have only used in admins jalfrezi).

i'm going to make the Ashoka green chilli paste and try it out this week. have a feeling though that my wife's not going to be too suited to the new refound ingredient.

[adriandavidb]

I's be very interested to hear the results of the green-chilie paste trial!

[JerryM]

i've made the ashoka green paste and will post details in the ashoka thread.

i started out taking the seeds and placenta out. i stopped after 5 chillies - i just could not see a BIR doing the same. i intend to just use a smaller amount to compensate for the extra hotness in the paste.

i couldn't resist eating one - i now know what, "lingering piquant" in menu speak means.

[Bobby Bhuna]

i'd be interested though in your thoughts on adding them to base. i know this has been discussed previously but it's still something that niggles me

I swear, I've added green finger chillies and green bullet chillies by the shovel load into my bases sauces and never been able to taste fresh green chilli in the resulting curry. The way I get the best fresh green chilli flavour is to add them finely chopped near the end of the curry stage. One question that has always niggled me, is would the taste be stronger if I blended the chillies in cold water - it works for me for garlic / ginger.

[JerryM]

Bobby,

following HeyThere's clarification i've dropped the idea of using them in the base for good. there was no hint of them in the real BIR base i tried. i was just trying to make sure no one else had had success using them in base.

i'm trying them as a paste at garlic/ginger frying stage and will report back.

[JerryM]

HeyThere,

i cooked last night and used the Ashoka Green Chilli paste. i felt it worked a treat and have adopted it as std for madras going fwd.

it sort of enhanced the flavour rather than radically changed it. i used 1 tsp and added it to the oil before the garlic/ginger paste.

it did make the madras that i make almost restaurant "Madras" hot though and it pushed my wife's goodwill a tad so i may try 1/2 tsp going fwd or spend more time taking out the seeds. the chillies did not blend that well in the blender leaving some small chunks which was fine for me but not for everyone's taste.

many thanks for the prompt - much appreciated